The causes of Africa's security challenges have internal and external roots but the security challenges persist because many African states are weak and they lack the resources to confront their own problems. Accordingly, this paper posits that the Positive Sovereignty deficit in Africa creates social conditions in which African states may fail to provide commodities, goods, and services or an equitable distribution thereof. Said constraints serve to ignite ethnic mobilization and, potentially, ethnic conflict as groups compete for resources to provide for themselves what their governments will not or cannot. This paper contends that the Positive Sovereignty deficit, chronic insecurity, and ethnic mobilization are inextricably linked. The paper presents empirical evidence which suggests that some states in Sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing balkanization, or fracturing due to ethnic conflict. In doing so, the paper reviews the dominant themes in African security literature and then examines empirical evidence from Zimbabwe, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast that supports the paper's thesis. Subsequently, the paper will discuss Africa's youth bulge and assess its potential to exacerbate insecurity, ethnic mobilization, and the balkanization of African states. The paper concludes with a recommendation for U.S. policy in Africa.

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